Weaving machine



June 14, 1966 H. FEND 3,255,782

WEAVING MACHINE Filed July 15, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 14, 1966 H. FEND WEAVING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 @www na/0W Filed July 15, 1965 June 14, 1966 H. FEND wEAvINe MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 15, 1963 SZWWQMJ @MZ 5% www 2547@ United States Patent O 3,255,782 WEAVING MACHINE Heinrich Feud, Regensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland, assignor to Verwaltungsgesellscllaft der Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Oerlikon, Zurich, Switzerland Filed .Iuly 15, 1963, Ser. No. 294,971 Claims priority, application Switzerland, July 23, 1962, 8,798/ 62 9 Claims. (Cl. 139-12) The present invention relates to weaving machines, especially to so called wave weaving machines, and more particularly to the weft thread beat up means thereof in conjunction with the weft thread inserting means.

Such weaving machines may comprise shed forming means by which selected warp threads are temporarily deflected in a plane perpendicular to that of the finished fabric to form sheds of limited width, a plurality of such sheds lbeing caused to progress at a distance behind each yother across the warp in the manner of travelling Waves. In each of these sheds, a weft carrying shuttle is moved across the warp, and behind the shuttle the weft yarn delivered `by it is beaten up against the fell of the fabric by a group of 'beat up blades or reeds before the shed is changed.

It has been suggested in `a wave weaving machine of this kind to provide groups of blade shaped shuttle guid-4 ing members arranged side by side and adapted to move group-wise into and out of the shed space between the warp threads in planes parallel 'to each other and to the said planes of deflection of the warp threads, so as to form a guideway for the shuttles within the respective sheds, but to retract from the shed behind each shuttle to permit the weft yarn delivered by the shuttle to be .beaten up. This beating up is done according to that suggestion -by a group of blades or reeds permanently extending across the space swept by the moving sheds and carried by the said groups of shuttle guiding members. However, according to that suggestion, the shuttles should have been driven by electromagnets also mounted on the shuttle guiding members outside the warp shed space and moving together with the guide members. Since the electromagnets are comparatively heavy, the movable parts supporting them together with the guide members must have so large a cross-section that it is necessary to mount a plurality of guide members on a common supporting part in order not to exceed the breadth and spacing of the guide members permitted by the spacing of the warp threads. This in turn does not permit moving separately each guide member, together with the group of beat up blades carried -by it, according to the most desirable waveform in order to obtain a close spacing of the -shuttles and sheds travelling behind each other across the warp,and the output of the machine for a given shuttle speed is limited accordingly. Moreover, high speed operation of the machine is prevented by the very weight of the said electromagnets and of their supporting parts.

The general object of the present invention therefore is to provide an arrangement in which the said shuttles are driven by separately movable shuttle driving elements each adapted to act on at least one inclined drive surface of the shuttle, `and in which weft thread beat p elements are moved jointly with said shuttle driving elements, in which the moving parts will be light enough for high speed operation, and in which the said elements can be made thin enough to permit close spacing of the 3,255,782 Patented June 14, 1966 The shuttle driving and guiding aspect of the means herein disclosed, as considered in itself, is the subject -matter of copending United States patent application Serial Number 294,980 of even date herewith filed by myself and disclosing substantially thesame means.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described solely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical section through the shuttle drive and beat up mechanism of a flat wave weaving machine, with packets of reed teeth fitted for beating up the weft thread and with a shuttle in the shed, some components lying further back being omitted;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevation of the same arrangement with the casing broken away and the reed teeth partly broken off;

FIGURE 3 is a plan View diagrammatically showing the displacement waveform of the shuttle driving members, with the reed teeth partly broken olf, and showing one shuttle, and l FIGURE 4 is a detail of FIGURE 1 on a larger scale.

The weft thread inserting and beat up means which will be described hereinafter are part of a multiple shuttle wave weaving machine or progressive shedding loom which otherwise may be of known construction. In this loom, the warp threads 25 delivered by a warp beam (not shown) are supported generally parallel to each other and to the plane of FIG. l, rearwardly of the shedforming and weft inserting means by a fixed supporting bar extending across the loom. In front of such means, the woven fabric 62 containing the said warp threads passes over a supporting roller 63 which also extends across the loom, and thence proceeds to take-olf beam (not shown). In front of the supporting bar, the warp threads 25 run each through the eye 64 of one of a row of heddles 65. These heddles are mounted each in one of a number, two in this instance, of shafts 66 which are disposed one behind the other.

For example, alternate heddles 65 may be mounted in the rear shaft and the remaining alternate heddles Imay be mounted in the lfront shaft, but depending on the weave pattern, the heddles 65 may be distributed ditferently on the several shafts and `there may be more than two of these shafts arranged behind each other.

The shafts of each set, i.e. the shafts 66 situated behind each other, are moved up and down by means not shown in order to deflect the respective warp threads 25 upwards anddownwards in planes parallel t-o each other and parallel to the plane of FIG. l, to form them into sheds adapted to contain travelling weft-inserting shuttles 16. While in conventional looms each shaft, and accordingly the shed controlled by one set of shafts, may extend over the whole width of the loom, in the multiple shuttle looms of the kind here contemplated at least twice as many sets of shafts 66 are juxtaposed over the width of the loom as there are shuttles 16 operating at the same 4time so as at any moment to provide one fully open shed for accommodating each shuttle, and to provide between the sets of shafts forming consecutive open sheds, at least one set of shafts which are free to move for changing their respective shed lbefore the next shuttle enters it.

The space defined by the uppermost and lowermost positions of the warp threads 25 and within which all sheds are formed and changed will hereinafter be termed the warp shed space.

The shuttle drive mechanism as shown in FIGURE 1 comprises a pair of cam shafts 9 and 9a, rotatably sup` ported parallel to each other in a casing 32. To these cam shafts, sets 3 and 4, respectively, of cam discs are tted `'by means of keys 10 and 10a, respectively, which cam discs are individually denoted 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d etc.

and 4a, 4b, 4c, 4a' etc. in FIGURE 1 and are arranged one behind the other, as viewed in FIG. 1. Each of these cam discs is angularly offset a certain amount relative to the subsequent cam disc on its respective cam shaft 97 9:1. On an axle 6, levers 1 with rollers 2 are mounted pivotally independently of each other; these levers are individually denoted 1a, 1b, 1c etc. and their respective rollers 2a, 2b, 2c etc. are journalled on pins 5a, 5b, 5c respectively. Each roller is arranged `between a pair Saz-4a, 3I1-4b etc. of cam discs, respectively.

A plurality of slides 7, individually denoted 7a, 7b, 7c etc., and constructed as members for driving and completely guiding the shuttles 16, are guided in parallel rectilinear guide slots 8 provided side by side in the housing 32 and extending parallel to the said plane of FIG. l and the planes in which the warp threads are deflected. In the top of the casing 32, there is `a cut-out from below extending over the length B, through which the levers 1 reach upward into the guide slots 8, in which they are guided laterally. On the levers 1, slider blocks 11 `are mounted, which have the same width as the levers 1 themselves and are guided each in the same guide slot 8 as the associated lever. These levers 1 maintain said slider blocks 11 engaged from below in recesses of the slides 7.

The cam discs 3, 4 are so designed that, upon synchronous rotation of the two cam shafts 9 and 9a, they are permanently in a play-free contact with the rollers 2. They all have the same configuration but are keyed to the respective cam shafts in equally spaced angular positions so that they reciprocate the slides 7 by means of the levers 1 between a rear end position and a forward beat up position in an identical manner but with a phase offset, in accordance with a predetermined travelling waveform. A groove 13 of trapezoidal cross-section extending transversely ofthe guide slots 8 over the full width of the casing 32 serves for accommodating a bar 12 of trapezoidal cross-section `also extending across the rfull Width of the casing 32, which bar holds all the slides 7 in the guide Islots 8.

As shown in FIGURE l, the slides 7 carry at their left hand side ends a forked projection 14 having a recess' 15. This recess separates two upwardly directed legs, the 4forward one of which is shorter than the rearward one and has a flat top surface 17 lying in the same plane as the corresponding top surfaces of the respective legs on all other slides, this plane being parallel `to the direction in which the slides 7 are individually displaceable. Arcuate'shuttles 16 each having a likewise arcuate rib 20 on its under face have the two flanks 21 and 31 (FIG- URE 3) of that rib engaged into a crescent-shaped guide formed by the rearward edges 19 and the forward edges 18, respectively, bounding the recesses in the forked projections of a plurality of those slides 7 which under the control of the respective cam discs 3 and 4 define, in the said travelling waveform, a wave trough facing the fell 26 of the fabric.

On its outer side (facing to the left in FIGURE 4), the rib 20 of the shuttle 16 is engaged over the whole length of its outer Hank 21, by the edges 19 which bound the recesses 15 in the projections 14 to the rear, and likewise the inside flank 31 of the guiding rib 20 of the shuttle is engaged by the edges 18 bounding the said recesses forwardly. The two edges 18 `and 19 converge upwardly, and the recesses 15 therefore widen downwardly. Since the rib 20 has a profile corresponding to the recesses 15, the shuttle, which at its underside rests on the at top surfaces 17 of the projections 14, is firmly guided in these projections, so that it can move only laterally in accordance with the movement of the slides 7.

To engage properly the edges 18 and 19 bounding the recesses 15 in the projections 14 of the several slides 7, the flanks 21 and 31 of the sh-uttle rib 20 are congurated as surfaces dened by lead lines in a reference plane VII- VII which is parallel to the direction in which the 4 slides 7 are displaceable. In this example, the edges 18 and 19 are straight and the anks 21 and 31 therefore will be constituted by ruled surfaces.

A convenient shape of the travelling wave is illustrated in FIGURE 3. The shape shown repeats itself .any time after an angular offset of 360 of the cam discs so that permanently ve to eight of such waves are formed. The travelling waves thus formed by the projections 14 proceed in one or the other sense transversely of the warp threads depending on the sense of rotation, and thus carry along the shuttle 16 lying in the said wave trough facing the fell 26 of the fabric. Each shuttle 16 is in engagement only with a predetermined number of slides 7, namely with those which actu-ally form the trough of the wave.

In addition to the projection 14, a group 27 of reed teeth 22 .forming the beat up elements are mounted on each slide, which group is held together by means of a connecting member 23. Each slide 7 together with its group 27 of reed teeth is exchangeable; for this purpose, however, the bar 12 and the cover 38 are to be removed. The warp threads 25 which form the weaving shed pass between the individual reed teeth 22 on their way `to the beat up line at the fell 26 of the fabric, thus enclosing a space in which the shuttle is held by the projections 14 of the slides 7.

The individual reed teeth 22 of each group are moreover connected at their upper ends by outer connecting members 24 forming guiding heads. Each of these connecting members 24 is in contact, by its plane lateral faces, with the correspon-ding lateral faces of the adjacent connecting members associated with the next slides 7. These members 24 are long enough to ensure that in every possible mutual position of adjacent slides 7, the lateral faces of their associated connecting members remain in contact with each other.

The reed teeth 22 serve for beating up the weft thread at the fell of the fabric in the forward beat up position of the slides 7, in which the projections 14 have emerged from the weaving shed.

As will be seen in FIGURE 3, owing to the favourable shape of the shuttle 16 and to the comparative shortness of the travelling wave it is possible to keep the slides 7 at a standstill in their forward beat up position for a short while, in order to attain in this manner a favourable binding in of the freshly inserted weft thread.

In a cavity of the shuttle 16, .the weft thread 28 is stored, which runs from there to the beat up line at the fell 26 of the fabric. In order to keep the shuttle small, preferably only a storage of weft thread corresponding to the width of the weave is accommodated therein. In FIGURE 3, the slide 7a is in its rear dead center position and accordingly is at a standstill for a moment. All the slides located further down in FIGURE 3 are moving towards the left in the direction of the arrow, some of their forward edges 18 cooperating with a driving portion 51 of the ank 31 of the shuttle rib 20 which is inclined relative to the driving direction, -and shift the shuttle 16 downwardly as seen in FIGURE 3. Similarly, all the slides which in FIGURE 3 are shown above the slide 7a and which are not yet in their forward beat up position, move in the opposite direction, i.e. to the right in FIGURE 3. The rear edges 19 of the recesses 15 of some of them cooperate with a driving portion 52 of the flank 21 and push the shuttle 16 in the same direction as do the other slides, i.e. downwardly in FIG- URE 3. The straight line guidance of the shuttle is taken care of by the same slides which are in motion, since the rear edges 19 of the receses 15 of those slides which are shown below the slide 7a cooperative with a guiding portion 53 of ank 21, :and the forward edges 18 of the recesses 15 of those slides which are shown above the slide 7a cooperate with a guiding portion 54 of ank 31.

From the FIGURES 3 and 4 it can be seen that on the one hand, the projections 14 situated within the shed of several slides 7 cooperate with the driving surface portion 51 and those of other slides 7 cooperate with the driving surface portion 52, respectively, of the shuttle 16, and on the other hand, these projections 14 of the first mentioned slides are in contact with the guiding surface portion 53 and those of the said other slide are in contact with the guiding surface portion 54 of the `shuttle 16. The lateral loads which in this manner `are imposed on the slides during the driving and 4guiding of the shuttles by reaction and friction forces, and which tend to twist the slides partly in one and partly in the other sense, may partly balance each other `since the slides concerned support each other by means of the reed teeth 22 and of the outer connecting members 24 thereof.

Moreover, it will be seen in FIGURE 3, that the fell 26 of the fabric is in contact with the reeds 22 of other slides 7, the projections 14 of which have emerged from the shed.- On these slides, the projections 14 of which are no longer in contact with the shuttle, no lateral force reactions arise from the beating up of the weft thread by the reed teeth 22, apart from possible secondary effects. However, these slideswhich are in the forward beat up position, are in lateral supporting relation, by means of the said connecting members 24, with those slides which guide and drive the shuttle, since the said connecting members of other slides which are in an intermediate position and which are not loaded at all, transmit these lateral forces arising from the driving and guiding of the shuttle which are not yet balanced out, to the said slides in beat up position. This is possible, since with all slides, for their additional lateral support, the mutually supported connecting members 24 of a group of reed teeth 27 have a length which exceeds the distance occurring between any two adjacent slides during their movements.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 4, one of the slides 7 is visible therein in its foremost or beat up position, with the reed teeth 22 carriedby it abutting the fell 26 of the fabric, while a number of other slides are in various positions approaching and including their rearmost position,

with the rib 20 of one shuttle 16 engaging the recesses 15 in the projections 1'4 of these slides 7.

Since the reed teeth 22 are spaced rearwardly from the projections 14 of the respective slides 7, these projections are entirely outside and in front of any shed formed by the deflected warp threads 25 as the reed teeth 22 carried by the same slides approach their beat up position at the fell 26 of the fabric.

Thus, the projections 14 cannot interfere with the beating up of the weft threads. On the other hand, a substantial portion of the said projections 14, including the flat top surfaces 17 and the recesses 15 of those slides 7 which are in the rear part of their stroke as shown in the left-hand part of FIG. 4 extends into the said shed. Thereby, these projections are enabled to support, guide and drive the shuttles 16, which for performing their function are to remain each within one of the travelling sheds.

This operation is rendered possible by the fact that the direction in which the slides 7 are reciprocated is at a substantial angle with the lower one of the sets of warp threads 25 forming the shed, so that the said substantial portion of the projections 14 of the slides 7 moves into and out of the shed as these slides are reciprocated.

I claim:

l. In a weaving machine comprising means for supporting a multitude of warp threads generally parallel to each other, means for temporarily deecting portions of selected warp threads in a vertical plane in either direction transversely of said Warp threads in predetermined planes -to form them into travelling warp sheds within the entire width of said warp threads, weft thread inserting and beat up means comprising a plurality of identical guide slots each extending parallel to the direction of said warp threads, a plurality of identical slide members each reciprocable through a predetermined stroke along one of said guide slots, each of said slide members having a projection movable into and outof said warp sheds as each slide member is reciprocated, said projection of said slide member having a plurality of shuttle driving edges, and a plurality of beat up elements extending parallel to said projection and perpendicular to the plane of fabric being formed, said beat up elements extending across said ywarp shed in every position of said slide member, actuating means for reciprocating each of said slide members separately in accordance with an identical cycle in time offset relation such that said shuttle driving edges of the several slide members define a waveform travelling bodily in a direction transverse to each of said warp sheds, a plurality of weft thread carrying shuttles movably supported for travelling in said direction transverse to said warp sheds, each of said shuttles having drive surfaces forming an angle with said direction of travel of each shuttle to engage said shuttle driving edges of each of said slide members.

2. In a weaving machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein said guide slots are rectilinear and extend parallel to the plane of the fabric being formed.

3i. In a flat Weaving machine as set forth in claim 2 wherein each slide member is reciprocated in a plane making an ac-ute angle with the lower warp threads of the warp sheds so that when-said beat up elements on each slide member are at the fell of the fabric being formed said projection is outside of the warp shed involved.

4. In a weaving machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein said slide member comprises a guiding head fixed to said beat up elements at the end remote from said guide slot, said guiding head having lateral surfaces extending parallel to said guide slot over .a length exceeding that of the longest possible mutual displacement of adjacent slide members, said guiding heads of adjacent slide members slidably engaging each other at their said lateral surfaces for mutual lateral support of their beat up elements.

5. In a weaving machine comprising means for supporting a multitude of warp threads generally parallel to each other, means yfor temporarily deflecting portions of selected warp threads in a vertical plane in either direction transversely of said warp threads in predetermined planes to form them into travelling warp sheds within the entire width of said warp threads, weft thread inserting and beat up means comprising a plurality of identical guide slots each extending parallel Ato the direction of said warp threads, a plurality of identical slide members each recriprocable through a predetermined stroke along one of said guide slots, each of said slide members having a projection movable into and out of said warp sheds as each slide member is reciprocated, said projection of said slide member having a shuttle driving edge and a beat up element extending parallel to said projection and perpendicular to the plane of fabric being formed, said beat up element extending across said warp shed in every position of said slide member, actuating means for reciprocating each of said slide members separately in accordance with an identical cycle in time offset relation such that said shuttle driving edges of the several slide members define a waveform travelling bodily in a direction transverse to each of said warp sheds, a weft thread carrying shuttle movably supported for travelling in said direction transverse to said warp sheds, said shuttle having a drive surface forming an angle With said direction of travel of said shuttle to engage said shuttle driving edge of each of said slide members, a pair of shuttle guiding edges on said projection facing in opposite directions in a predetermined mutual spacing, and each said shuttle having a pair of oppositely facing guide surfaces each identically configurated to at least one portion of said waveform defined by said shuttle guiding edges of the several slide members, corresponding elements of said two guide surfaces of the shuttle having the same mutual spacing as said mutual spacing of said guiding edges of each of said slide members, to permit simultaneous engagement of said two guide surfaces of the shuttle each with said guiding edges of a plurality of said slide members.

6. yIn a weaving machine as set forth in claim 5 in which each of the said guide surfaces of the shuttle is identically congurated to at least one portion of the said waveform which is curved with the concave side thereof facing the fell of the fabric.

7. In a Weaving machine as set forth in claim 6 in which at least one portion of the said waveform includes the apex of a wave trough facing the said fell.

8. In a Weaving machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein each shuttle is provided with a rib having opposite flanks and each of lthe said guide surfaces of the shuttle is constituted by one of said opposite flanks.

9. In -a weaving machine as set forth in claim 8 Wherein said rib is curved lengthwise and theshuttle has a plane supporting surface on the concave side of said rib, and in which said guide portion of each slide member presents a straight supporting edge extending transversely of its said guiding edges for engagement with said supporting surface of the shuttle.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner.

H. S. JAUDON, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A WEAVING MACHINE COMPRISING MEANS FOR SUPPORTING A MULTITUDE OF WARP THREADS GENERALLY PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER, MEANS FOR TEMPORARILY DEFLECTING PORTIONS OF SELECTED WARP THREADS IN A VERTICAL PLANE IN EITHER DIRECTION TRANSVERSELY OF SAID WARP THREADS IN PREDETERMINED PLANES TO FORM THEM INTO TRAVELLING WARP SHEDS WITHIN THE ENTIRE WIDTH OF SAID WARP THREADS, WEFT THREADS INSERTING AND BEAT UP MEANS COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF IDENTICAL GUIDE SLOTS EACH EXTENDING PARALLEL TO THE DIRECTION OF SAID WARP THREADS, A PLURALITY OF IDENTICAL SLIDE MEMBERS EACH RECIPROCABLE THROUGH A PREDETERMINED STROKE ALONG ONE OF SAID GUIDE SLOTS, EACH OF SAID SLIDE MEMBERS HAVING A PROJECTION MOVABLE INTO AND OUT OF SAID WARP SHEDS AS EACH SLIDE MEMBER IS RECIPROCATED, SAID PROJECTION OF SAID SLIDE MEMBER HAVING A PLURALITY OF SHUTTLE DRIVING EDGES, AND A PLURALTIY OF BEAT UP ELEMENTS EXTENDING PARALLEL TO SAID PROJECTION AND PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLANE OF FABRIC BEING FORMED, SAID BEAT UP ELEMENTS EXTENDING ACROSS SAID WARP SHED IN EVERY POSITION OF SAID SLIDE MEMBER, ACTUATING MEANS FOR RECIPROCATING EACH OF SAID SLIDE MEMBERS SEPARATELY IN ACCORDANCE WITH AN IDENTICAL CYCLE IN TIME OFFSET RELATION SUCH THAT SAID SHUTTLE DRIVING EDGES OF THE SEVERAL SLIDE MEMBERS DEFINE A WAVEFORM TRAVELLING BODILY IN A DIRECTION TRANSVERSE TO EACH OF SAID WARP SHEDS, A PLURALITY OF WEFT THREAD CARRYING SHUTTLES MOVABLY SUPPORTED FOR TRAVELLING IN SAID DIRECTION TRANSVERSE TO SAID WARP SHEDS, EACH OF SAID SHUTTLES HAVING DRIVE SURFACES FORMING AND ANGLE WITH SAID DIRECTION OF TRAVEL OF EACH SHUTTLE TO ENGAGE SAID SHUTTLE DRIVING EDGES OF EACH OF SAID SLIDE MEMBERS. 